Preventing the transmission of infection in health care is a major challenge. The purpose of Infection Prevention and Control is to facilitate those activities which prevent health care associated infections in patients, staff, and visitors. It is important that researchers/visitors to the Ward follow the recommended guidelines set out for their protection.
If the proposed research involves visiting/monitoring patients or shadowing/trailing unit staff into patient rooms, proper training involving standard Infection Prevention and Control guidelines is required. An in-service day, involving all research investigators, will be mandatory to learn the standard protocols (i.e. how to put on a gown, gloves, etc.).
Researcher Illness
The number one priority on the Ward is to protect patients at all times, and offer the best available health care. It is important for researcher to understand the severity and acuteness of patient illness on the Ward. It should be noted that if the researcher or any one on the research team becomes sick (specifically in regards to gastrointestinal illnesses), the sick must abstain from the Ward until they are symptom free for a minimal period of 72 hours.
Hand Hygiene
It is important that researchers clean their hands on a regular basis, either through the use of warm water and soap, or with alcohol hand rub (Microsan) which is located throughout the unit. In order to properly cleanse your hands, please follow the specific hand hygiene procedures seen below.
Hand Hygiene Procedures:
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Alcohol Hand Rub |
Plain/Antimicrobial Soap |
- Use volume indicated by manufacturer
- Apply to palm of one hand
- Rub hands together, covering all surfaces of hands and fingers until hands are dry
- Hands should be wet for 15-30 seconds
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- Wet hands with running water
- Apply soap and thoroughly distribute over hands
- Rub hands vigorously for 10-15 seconds, covering all surfaces
- Rinse soap from hands
- Dry hands with paper towel and use paper towel to turn off taps
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To minimize the risk of infection, it is imperative that researchers in contact with patients conduct proper hand sanitization procedures in between patients, and before and after visiting a patient. Under no circumstances should multiple patients be visited without properly cleansing hands in between each visit.
Cleaning and Disinfection
For reasons of safety and liability, Alberta Health Services' environmental service providers do not clean IT devices or devices used for the purposes of your study. The user/owner is responsible for routine cleaning and disinfection. Generally, the frequency of cleaning is determined by the risk of cross contamination, the proximity of the device to the point of care and the usual amount of soiling (dust, etc).
Hard surfaces should be cleaned with a disposable cloth (Cavi-wipes®). Small surfaces (e.g. pagers, mouse can be cleaned with an alcohol swab. LCD screens can be cleaned with Fellowes® Screen Cleaning wipes as needed.
Other equipment (i.e. prototype of a new device) that is being introduced onto the Ward must be cleanable! Non-critical items that do not contact mucous membranes require regular cleaning with a low-level disinfectant. The ideal prototype would be designed for single use; however, if this is not possible, equipment must be designed to handle cleaning on a regular basis, and in between patients.
All IT devices must be approached with clean hands. Staff should never wear gloves when using an IT device. Hand hygiene should be performed between patient/client contact and before and after accessing a device. Convenient access to alcohol hand rub (Microsan) is available around the Ward.
Exposures
If the proposed research involves contact with patients, there is a small risk that researchers will be exposed to a patient’s blood and body fluids. If this happens.....
Outbreaks
In the event of an outbreak or threat of an outbreak of an unusual infectious disease, such as an influenza pandemic, severe acute respiratory illness, or any other infrequent infectious disease, directions will be provided by the Medical Officer of Health or designate. For further information, please read the following document involving Outbreak Management Protocol.